Gazette News

Burley student takes sport to slum children

By Jim Jack

7:00am Tuesday 16th March 2010

Medical student Laura Styles is preparing for a “very different” second trip to Africa this summer.

The 19-year-old, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, has only been to the continent once before and that was for a holiday in South Africa.

But this June she will be heading with a group of fellow students from Birmingham University to Kenya to give children living in slum conditions a chance to experience the joy of sport.

Laura is travelling out as part of a university volunteering scheme and will spend four weeks in some of the poorest areas near Nairobi helping to coach sports and teach.

She said: “We’re going out in June and July, a group of seven or eight of us all from Birmingham University, to do a month for the project in Nairobi and then a bit of travelling after-wards.

“It has all been organised through the Birmingham University Inter-national Volunteering Society and we’ll be volunteering for the Little Sports Organisation (LSO) while we’re out there. The work will involve coaching the children in sports and also helping in the schools with arts and crafts teaching and with a feeding programme that is run on Saturday mornings as well.

“But the main thing will be helping to get the kids taking part in sport, which is what the charity really specialises in. I went to South Africa a few years ago but that wasn’t volunteering so I think this will be very different and very interesting.

“Working in the slums of Nairobi should certainly be quite an eye opener.”

Now in her second year at university, Laura first heard about the project last year and decided she would like to find out more.

“Convinced the work will help LSO achieve its goal of using sports to “liberate slum children from their harsh lives,” she is now focused on raising as much money for the scheme as possible before she departs.

She said: “I saw some information about this in a bulletin that came around university and it interested me.

“There were lots of different projects to choose from in different countries, but I liked the sound of this one. So we all had to do a selection day back in November and I got on it.

“We all need to raise at least £2,000 each but we are actually hoping to raise quite a bit more than that, as the LSO also wants us to try to take out as much sports equipment as we can.

“So I would love to hear from any kind businesses, groups or individuals in the Wharfedale area who have any sports equipment they could donate.”

Anyone wishing to help can contact Laura by calling her on 07732 942 468 or sending an e-mail to lks807@bham.ac.uk.

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